Jakko’s Messerschmitt Bf 110

[Guest]

My choice did fall on the Bf 110 to start with. My kit is a Revell re-issue, but an early one when they still did the three-colour plastic. Here’s what you get:

[ATTACH]383920[/ATTACH][ATTACH]383921[/ATTACH][ATTACH]383922[/ATTACH][ATTACH]383923[/ATTACH]

You can tell it’s a Revell kit from the front of the box alone by the “Der grüne Punkt” recycling badge, and of course by the Revell name and address on the back, plus the number 40115 rather than PK-115 that Matchbox called this kit.

(The sticker on the front is not from the shop where I bought this kit. I got it from a web shop with a lot of second-hand kits last year, and I guess they got it from that shop selling off its old stock?)

Inside the box are four sprues:

[ATTACH]383924[/ATTACH]

I’m not convinced that Revell got the colours right. I seem to recall reading once that they had to reverse-engineer things like this, as well as the markings, when they did these re-issues in the 1990s. Looking the original 1976 version up on Matchboxkits.org, it turns out I’m right: originally, it was pale blue, red brown and yellow— not medium blue, darkish green and light grey. The 1979 version, though, seems to have had a green sprue. Anyway …

Here’s evidence I’ve built one before:

[ATTACH]383925[/ATTACH]

Top the Revell instructions, bottom the Matchbox ones. The build instructions look like this:

[ATTACH]383926[/ATTACH]

This is the Revell sheet, but the Matchbox one is identical. The paint instructions are not, of course, because the re-issue references Revell paints instead of Humbrol:

[ATTACH]383927[/ATTACH]

Strangely, they didn’t just translate the Humbrol numbers to Revell but actually changed some of them completely. They then didn’t change the painting callouts, neither on the back of the box, nor on the instructions:

[ATTACH]383930[/ATTACH]

Thus, Revell would have you paint the pilots’ faces basalt grey rather than flesh, for example, the wingtips that are clearly yellow on the back of the box, with matt white, and the white fuselage with graphite grey. I think I’ll use the Matchbox colour instructions instead, thankyouverymuch However, despite my collection of Humbrol paints:

[ATTACH]383931[/ATTACH]

… I discovered that I don’t have all I need

Note Revell have also retained the instructions for applying the swastika decals, despite not including them on the transfer sheet:

[ATTACH]383928[/ATTACH]

The empty area at top right is where they went on the Matchbox sheet, according to photos on Matchboxkits.org.

[Guest]

Construction has begun. I started painting the inside bits with the Humbrol-suggested grey, though I used an older tin with the old-style HG-numbering, and being an Experienced Modeller™ I decided to paint more than the instructions would have me:

[ATTACH]384246[/ATTACH]

Next, I painted the pilots:

[ATTACH]384247[/ATTACH]

These are also done in the recommended colours, except when I didn’t have them, at which point I used my old technique: look for a paint that seems like it might be somewhere close. For this reason, the uniforms aren’t Khaki Drill but Natural Wood and the boots aren’t Black Green (don’t ask me why it tells you to use that) but some other shade of green. Oh, and the faces are Tamiya Flesh because I didn’t have any Humbrol Flesh.

Oh, didn’t I say? I’ll be building this kit much like I used to in the early to mid-eighties And, of course, I shall be using the manufacturer’s recommended techniques:

[ATTACH]384248[/ATTACH]

Where is this from? Well:

[ATTACH]384249[/ATTACH]

Only probably my favourite book when I was a child This is actually my second copy, that I bought ten years ago or so in almost-new condition. My old one looks a little more worn …

Here, by the way, is the page with my Bf 110:

[ATTACH]384250[/ATTACH]

Oh, and I also put the cockpit together:

[ATTACH]384251[/ATTACH]

Strangely, the seats are far too low for the pilots to sit in properly.

[Tim Marlow]

Interesting idea. I thought about doing something along the same lines, but decided I have too many other things on the go to join in....For info, I have just found a first edition of that ME 410 pictured on the same page....also a Jagdpanzer 4 and a Thunderbolt....all boxed complete, and all from the very early 1970s.

[Guest]

Interesting idea.

It’s the way I usually build Matchbox kits, when I take one out of the stash every couple of years or so

I thought about doing something along the same lines, but decided I have too many other things on the go to join in....

The advantage of this is that it doesn’t take long. That is, it’s already taking longer than this same kit would have when I was ten, of course …

For info, I have just found a first edition of that ME 410 pictured on the same page....also a Jagdpanzer 4 and a Thunderbolt....all boxed complete, and all from the very early 1970s.

I’d consider those too rare to build — that’s why I’m not going to put together the Swordfish I’ve got, though I may build my Wellesley kit that’s a little younger.

[colin m]

Looks nice Jakko. If it goes to a poll, I'm voting winter camo.

[Fernando N]

Very nice Jakko, those coloured sprues take me back to childhood moggling :smiling:

Neat start on the office and figs:thumb2:

[Guest]

Looks nice Jakko. If it goes to a poll, I'm voting winter camo.

Thanks, and that’s the one I decided on anyway The other one I built is green (I still have it somewhere in a box in the loft) so making this one white means I’ll have built both. I have been thinking about how to get that to cover over the green and blue plastic, though. I’m thinking I’ll paint the whole model with the light blue underside paint first so that the white will cover better on the top.

Very nice Jakko, those coloured sprues take me back to childhood moggling :smiling:

Neat start on the office and figs:thumb2:

Thanks, and same: it takes me back to how I used to build models when I was young(er ). Though this time I decided to use liquid cement rather than a tube like back then — though I have done that too with some old Matchbox kits

[rtfoe]

Thanks, and that’s the one I decided on anyway :smiling3: The other one I built is green (I still have it somewhere in a box in the loft) so making this one white means I’ll have built both. I have been thinking about how to get that to cover over the green and blue plastic, though. I’m thinking I’ll paint the whole model with the light blue underside paint first so that the white will cover better on the top.


Thanks, and same: it takes me back to how I used to build models when I was young(er :smiling3. Though this time I decided to use liquid cement rather than a tube like back then — though I have done that too with some old Matchbox kits :smiling3:

Jakko, the light blue undercoat could do the trick plus help with the panel shades. Matchbox, dontcha just love those colored plastic. My only gripe with its kits other than the panel drains is the lack of interior but ideal for scratchers.

Cheers,
Richard

[Lee Drennen]

Jakko. Great start and I’m in on this one hey looks like the truck I’ll be building on the cover of your catalog

[Guest]

the light blue undercoat could do the trick plus help with the panel shades.

Panel shades? This model will be finished old-school, just painted white with some green (semi-)drybrushing to represent the paint underneath shining through, like the painting instructions suggest. Nothing fancy here

Matchbox, dontcha just love those colored plastic.

Definitely

Jakko. Great start and I’m in on this one hey looks like the truck I’ll be building on the cover of your catalog

It is, yes. The trailer is on the rear cover, you can just see its tow bar behind the truck in the photo.

[Guest]

I wanted the propellers to spin, but lost one of the rings that glue to their shafts, so being an Experienced Modeller™ I made a replacement from a bit of sprue:

[ATTACH]384557[/ATTACH]

After that I had little trouble putting the rest of the model together. First, close-ups of the cockpit without the canopy:

[ATTACH]384558[/ATTACH][ATTACH]384559[/ATTACH]

And after a little more work, the completes model, only minus its wheels:

[ATTACH]384560[/ATTACH][ATTACH]384561[/ATTACH][ATTACH]384562[/ATTACH][ATTACH]384563[/ATTACH]

All that remains to be done now is paint everything (and stick the wheels on, of course).

[stona]

Wow! That really is a blast from the past, and I'm old enough to remember the Airfix kits in bags!

I wonder if the one colour green is because it was not realised that Luftwaffe camouflage comprised two greens (in the 70/71 scheme) in the '70s? The contrast between the colours does not show up in B&W images and is difficult to see even in rare colour film.

Nice job, and good to see that these kits can be built properly with a bit of effort and expertise.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I wonder if the one colour green is because it was not realised that Luftwaffe camouflage comprised two greens (in the 70/71 scheme) in the '70s? The contrast between the colours does not show up in B&W images and is difficult to see even in rare colour film.

I was wondering about that too, but other Matchbox kits of the era do show both, as I recall.

Nice job, and good to see that these kits can be built properly with a bit of effort and expertise.

Heh I deliberately didn’t even clean up mould lines or seams on this one, let alone use more advanced painting techniques than applying a single layer of the indicated colour For a follow-up model for this group build, though, I’ll probably try to make it closer to modern standards.

[stona]

Heh :smiling3: I deliberately didn’t even clean up mould lines or seams on this one, let alone use more advanced painting techniques than applying a single layer of the indicated colour :smiling3: .

Yeah, but I bet you haven't got glue seeping out the seems or a nice thumb print on the canopy.

I always used to try to paint a second colour before the first had dried, there was only Humbrol enamels and a twelve year old was NEVER going to wait for them to dry

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Yeah, but I bet you haven't got glue seeping out the seems or a nice thumb print on the canopy.

This is because I am an Experienced Modeller™ I did toy with the idea of using tube cement for this, but the only opened tube I have is mostly dried out, and opening another for this kit felt like a waste, which I don’t like. Otherwise, I might just have glue seeping from a seam, sure

I always used to try to paint a second colour before the first had dried, there was only Humbrol enamels and a twelve year old was NEVER going to wait for them to dry

No, I don’t think I ever had that problem. I had been taught that you need to let paint dry, so I let the paint dry before adding the next colour. If you want badly painted models, I can show you some of my brother’s, who didn’t have that kind of patience